Bob Elliott has joined the freemen’s celebrated “band of brothers” by reaching a 60-year membership milestone – adding to the already notable claims of two of his grandchildren. At the February Guild Day Garry Dunnill, chairman of the wardens, marked the occasion by presenting Bob with a special freemen’s plaque and paying tribute to the […]
NEWLY apprenticed butcher Rachael Lister looks set to be a cut above the rest at the start of her chosen career – thanks to an award from Durham Freemen’s Charitable Trustees to help meet the cost of the tools she will need. And the 22-year-old’s benefactors – whose own links to the meat trade stretch […]
SANDSTONE tablet of King Charles’s official cipher, hand-crafted by a Durham Cathedral mason, has gone on display in a village hall – alongside an official letter of commendation from his mother, the Queen, awarded as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations Her Majesty’s personally signed letter to the independently-run Waterhouses Community Association, acknowledged the value […]
AN independently-run mental health charity, stretched by “a huge increase” in demand for its services, has been thrown a financial life-line by Durham City Freemen. When the Waddington Street Centre celebrated its 40th anniversary three years ago it provided a front-line safe haven every week for 120 members, all struggling with the crippling stress of modern […]
THREE foodbanks, which have provided emergency grocery parcels to hundreds of crisis-hit families in the Durham area over the past year, have been gifted £1,000 by the charitable trust of the city’s freemen. The three hubs, operating premises in Waddington Street, Old Elvet and Gilesgate are part of a network of 27 distribution points across […]
A FAMILY, whose modern-day footprint on the freemen’s seven centuries of history is near impossible to match, established a generational “quadruple” first at this year’s November Guild Day. Joiners’ Company warden Ann Thurlow, accompanied by her 43-year-old son David, were among the first to congratulate her grandson, Robert Caulkin-Neale, when he completed the “treble” after […]
REMEMBRANCE Sunday in Durham will be marked again by a double tribute to “The Fallen” – both supported together for the first time by the Durham City Freemen Charitable Trust. The traditional Sunday morning parade through the city, which follows a service in the cathedral, is one of the biggest in the region. It will […]
ACENTURIES-old craft, which first emerged in England during the Middle Ages and went on to be nurtured for over two hundred years in the homes of Durham’s coal and lead mining families, is poised to receive a double boost from the city’s freemen. A 20-strong women’s voluntary self-help group, whose ages range from 40-plus to […]
STROKE victims from across Durham will enjoy “an enhanced quality of life” thanks to the continuing support of the city’s freemen. The 30 members of the County Durham Stroke Club have meet twice monthly at Framwellgate Moor’s Bede Lodge Social Club since 2011 and in the last five years have enjoyed the financial backing of […]
YOUNG boxing gold medalists from Durham have earned themselves a special award from the city’s freemen – a £1,000 gift to help equip an extension to their purpose-built gym. Formed over a decade ago the Brandon Boxing Club has enjoyed regular success in regional, national and international competitions. But last season they excelled on a […]